Join us for an evening of conversation about the problems that plague the university system and all of the people that attend and work at them.

The university system has its problems. Students invest a lot of time and money in education but all too often don’t get what they came for.

In What’s Wrong With University, Jeff Rybak addresses the most pressing concerns for undergraduate students, and helps them cope with the university system.

He illustrates the university as having five distinct functions, which are often in conflict with each other. Students often find themselves at cross purposes with those with different goals and motivations, and also with institutional features designed around the needs of those other students. As a result they are frequently frustrated by their experiences, lost in a system that isn’t suited to them. Jeff explains how university really works, and provides advice on how all students can overcome these internal conflicts to get what they most want from the university experience.

The present state of the university is a difficult issue to comprehend for anyone outside of the education system. If we are to believe common government reports that changes in policy are somehow making life easier for university graduates, we cannot help but believe that things are going right and are getting better in our universities. Ivory Tower Blues gives a decidedly different picture, examining this optimistic attitude as it impacts upon professors, students, and administrators in charge of the education system.

Ivory Tower Blues is a frank account of the contemporary university, drawing on the authors’ own research and personal experiences, as well as on input from students, colleagues, and administrators. James E. Côté and Anton L. Allahar offer an insider’s account of the university system, an accurate, alternative view to that overwhelmingly presented to the general public. Throughout, the authors argue that fewer and fewer students are experiencing their university education in ways expected by their parents and the public. The majority of students are hampered by insufficient preparation at the secondary school level, lack of personal motivation, and disillusionment. Contrary to popular opinion, there is no administrative or governmental procedure in place to maintain standards of education.

Ivory Tower Blues is an in-depth look at the crisis facing Canadian and American universities, the factors that are precipitating the situation, and the long-term impact this crisis will have on the quality of higher education.

Jeff Rybak graduated in 2006 from the University of Toronto Scarborough, where he served in the students’ union as Vice-President Academics and within campus governance as Chair of the Academic Committee. He spent many hours counseling students on how to deal with all aspects of university, and was responsible for the production of several resources for students, including three editions of the campus Anti-Calendar. Jeff is currently a director on the board of the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), and lives in Toronto.

James E. Côté is a professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Western Ontario.

Anton L. Allahar is a professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Western Ontario.